The French chapter of the aid organisation has hundreds of volunteers on the ground helping victims and their families.

The Secours Catholique-Caritas France is providing relief and often helps during times of crisis. Donate money or sign up to volunteer here.

If you can offer shelter or help to people nearby, tweet your location using the #PorteOuverte hashtag.

Terror attacks in France

As new emerges of the latest shooting in Paris, we look back on the terror tragedies that have hit France in recent years

March 2012

A French Algerian killed three soldiers, a teacher and three young students at a Jewish school in Toulouse. He was later killed by police during a siege at his flat.

23 May 2013

A convert to Islam named as Alexandre Dhaussy stabbed a French soldier in the neck at La Defense in Paris. The soldier survived the attack.

December 2014

Joue-les-Tours: A French national born in Burrundi attacked several police officers with a knife shouting "Allahu Akbar" (Arabic for "God is great"). He wounded three officers before he was shot dead.

7 January 2015

Said and Cherif Kouachi shot dead 12 people at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, including some of the publication's famed cartoonists.

8 January 2015

Amedy Coulibaly kills a policewoman before entering a Jewish supermarket in Paris where he shot dead four others. Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers died in separate shoot outs with police.

3 February 2015

Three soldiers on a patrol outside a Jewish community centre in Nice are attacked by an armed man. He stabbed one officer in the arm and slashed the cheek of another before he was arrested.

26 June 2015

Saint-Quentin-Fallavier: Two attackers entered a chemical factory near Grenoble with the aim of setting off explosives. One man was beheaded and several others were injured. One suspect was arrested. A black flag with Arabic writing was found on the scene and President Francois Hollande described it as a terror attack.

13 November 2015

Scores of people have died in a series of shootings and explosions across Paris carried out by men armed with Kalashnikovs and grenades. The motive remains unknown but many Parisians fear terrorists have again hit their city. Several Metro lines have been shut, a curfew has been imposed in Paris and French borders are now closed. President Hollande has declared a national state of emergency.